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Today the Southwest Florida Water Management District (District) announced the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) will provide $638,550 to a new, 880-foot deep monitoring well in the District’s Most Impacted Area (MIA) of the Southern Water Use Caution Area (SWUCA) in Hillsborough County. District scientists will use data collected from the new well to better assess aquifer system dynamics, enhance groundwater modeling and determine potential water… Read more

Atop Hillsborough County’s newest “mountain,” visitors got a glimpse of the largest coastal restoration project ever performed for Tampa Bay. Community leaders helped the District dedicate the Rock Ponds Ecosystem Restoration Project during a ceremony Wednesday. Located just north of the Manatee County line in Ruskin, the project will create coastal habitats and… Read more

The Central Florida Water Initiative (CFWI) regional water supply plan team will present a free, interactive webinar about the development of a regional water supply plan for the central Florida area at 1:30 p.m. on Aug. 29.The webinar will include an overview of the CFWI, highlights of the regional water supply planning process, a question and answer session and information on how to become involved in the process. The webinar is sponsored by the Polk County Board of County… Read more

The Southwest Florida Water Management District Governing Board last week renewed Tampa Bay Water’s water use permit (WUP) for the South Central Hillsborough County Regional Wellfield.The service area includes approximately 122,000 acres in southern Hillsborough County located approximately seven miles south of Plant City and includes the Lithia and Keysville areas.The water use permit is for an annual average of 24,100,000 gallons of water per day (gpd.) There were… Read more

From left to right: Shannon Staub, Sarasota County commissioner; Judy Whitehead, Governing Board chair; Heidi McCree, Governing Board member; Maritza Rovira-Forino, Governing Board member; Dora Thomas, Manasota Basin Board member; and David Moore, District executive director, listen to a presentation about surface water treatment by Kevin Morris, PR/MRWSA facilities division director (second from left). District representatives recently participated in a tour of… Read more

Minimizing flood risks is an important part of the mission of the Southwest Florida Water Management District (District). The District and local governments work together to minimize flooding impacts, protect personal property and assist flood victims during and after storm events. Learn more about those efforts below, and click the tiles for Frequently Asked Questions related to flooding or who to contact when flooding. 

Who:Representatives from the Southwest Florida Water Management District’s Alafia River Basin Board, the District’s Surface Water Improvement and Management (SWIM) program, Tampa Electric Company, Protecting the Environment through Ecological Research (PEER,) the Pinellas County Environmental Fund and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)What:Volunteers will participate in planting 6,000 marsh grass and upland plants before a tree planting… Read more

View Statewide Forms » All 62-330, F.A.C. Statewide Environmental Resource Permitting (SWERP) forms can be accessed and downloaded from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) website. To access these forms, please visit the … Read more

Southwest Florida Water Management District (District) Executive Director Brian Armstrong has received the Florida Association for Water Quality Control (FAWQC) 2022 Wade Hopping Leadership Award. Named for a true leader and pioneer in the development of Florida water policy, the award is presented annually to recognize an outstanding professional who oversees policies and/or personnel in the area of water resources and is dedicated to managing, improving, and protecting… Read more

The Southwest Florida Water Management District’s Governing Board recognized Tony Gilboy, the District’s well construction regulation manager, today for the award he received from the Florida Ground Water Association (FGWA) for his outstanding service to the association.The award was presented to Gilboy at the recent FGWA Convention and Trade Show in Orlando.Gilboy was honored for his outstanding contributions to the well industry. His contributions include the… Read more

 Sallie Parks, Governing Board member, collects samples from Brooker Creek. Governing Board member Sallie Parks is a “hands-on” person when it comes to water resources. Parks’ dedication to the environment was clear during a Watershed Leadership Program held at the Brooker Creek Preserve. The education section of the Pinellas County Environmental Lands Division developed the Watershed Leadership Program to help decision-makers and elected officials… Read more

Members of Gulfport’s Kayak Nature Adventures Paddle Club loaded their boats and headed to Citrus County for a trek into the Chassahowitzka Wildlife Management Area. Their quarry: cans and bottles, bags and cups — anything floating or washed up onshore. Kurt Zuelsdorf led the group of volunteers on its mission to clean up hard-to-reach areas along the Weeki Wachee River, with the permission of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). “We were… Read more

Jack Pepper, deputy general counsel, is presented with the District’s first Shining Star award by Bill Bilenky, general counsel; Tammy Antoine, water conservation analyst and Employee Committee chair; and Pamela Baldwin, senior human resources generalist. Jack Pepper, a District deputy general counsel, gleamed as the Employee Committee and fellow coworkers presented him with the first Shining Star award, a new recognition program recently… Read more

WhoPasco County teachers and students who received Splash! mini-grants; Laura Hill, Pasco County instructional supervisor; and Southwest Florida Water Management District (District) Youth Education staffWhatThe District is holding its annual sharing day for recipients of its Splash! mini-grants in Pasco County. District Youth Education staff and Pasco County’s Instructional Supervisor will visit five sites throughout the day. Each class will showcase their water… Read more

Left: Joel DeAngelis, senior land management specialist, shows volunteers Porgy Smith and Ellen Puckett how to remove the invasive plants. Top right: Samantha DeVary, volunteer, shows how small some of the invasive plants can be. Bottom right: Joel DeAngelis shows volunteers the area where they will be removing invasive plants. An invasive plant species, green wandering jew, was beginning to get a foothold at the District’s Panasoffkee Outlet property in Sumter… Read more

Representative Mike Grant presented the Southwest Florida Water Management District’s Manasota Basin Board with a ceremonial check for $15 million for the District’s West-Central Florida Water Restoration Action Plan (WRAP.)Gov. Charlie Crist included WRAP in his 2008-09 budget request to the Legislature. Rep. Grant is a strong advocate for WRAP and helped secure support among House members, which led to inclusion of WRAP in the state’s budget.“… Read more

The District is hosting a public meeting 5 p.m. April 16 to provide information and get feedback on the Weeki Wachee Channel Restoration Project. The purpose of this multi-year project is to evaluate accumulated sediments in the river and identify where future removal of sediments will benefit the river’s ecosystem… Read more

A project cooperatively funded by the Southwest Florida Water Management District and Hillsborough County will reduce flooding near Stearns Creek and Lithia-Pinecrest Road and improve water quality entering the Alafia River.The first phase of the project will be to complete a hydrologic analysis that will determine the current drainage patterns of the area. The analysis will enable the project designers to determine the proper size culverts to use and how to best route the… Read more

More than 300 volunteers broke a record last weekend at the Rock Ponds Ecosystem Project when they planted 40,000 plugs of marsh grass, making it the largest installation of marsh plants in Tampa Bay.  The event was a collaboration between the District’s SWIM program and Tampa Bay Watch, Hillsborough County and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.  “In just an hour, this has gone from looking like a desert to all this green. It’s amazing… Read more

Who: Southwest Florida Water Management District Basin Board members and staff; Mike Hickman, Hickman Homes, Inc. president; and the Polk County Builders AssociationWhat: The District will celebrate the completion of a Florida Water StarSM Gold (FWSG) certified home that will be featured in the Polk County Parade of Homes. The fall Parade of Homes is Oct. 17-18 and Oct. 24-25.FWSG is a certification program for builders and developers. The program encourages water… Read more